Are you new to coaching youth slow pitch softball? We’ve collected some tips from past coaches that have helped them stay organized and get the most out of their practices and games.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to your Age Division Coordinator if you are looking for additional suggestions!

General Tips:

• Be a good communicator. Parents appreciate getting information early. If this is not your strength, ask your parents if anyone is interested in being the team manager and owning communications.

• Read the rules! As coach, you should know the rules for your division.

• Focus on the kids. During practices and games, your focus should be on your players. Don’t hesitate to ask a parent to contact you outside of practice time if they are distracting you during practice.  

• Utilize your team page. Get your parents looking at the website by adding a team name, logo and practice schedule to your team’s page. Hopefully, this also gets them looking at the website to confirm the time and location of games/practices/tournament schedules.

 

Tips for Running Effective Practices:

• Schedule your practices with as much advance notice as possible.

• Create a practice plan. If you want to get the most out of your practice time, know what you plan to do in advance. Share it with your assistant coaches.

• Ask for help. Having multiple assistant coaches at practices gives you a more options for running the practice. Accept help from parents that can only attend some practices or admittedly don’t know a lot about softball.

• Break into small groups for drills. If you’re successful in getting multiple helpers at practice, take advantage and do lots of small group work. The quickest way for practice to go downhill is to have players standing around waiting for their turn.

 

Tips for Being Prepared on Game Day:

• Create your batting lineup and rotation plan before you get to the ballpark. Use the templates available on the Position Charts tab

• Make it clear to your parents that you need to know in advance if their daughter will miss a game or be late for a game.

• Have a pre-game warm up plan.

Additional 10U Tips:

• Practice pitching early and often in the season as this is the first level the players will pitch instead of the coach.

• Practice advancing bases as this is the first level the players can continue to run on overthrows.

Additional 6U and 8U Tips:

• Have a designated dugout coach! In addition to bases coaches and a coach pitcher, you’ll want someone in the dugout to help keep the girls organized.

• Try to use the same coach pitcher as much as possible. Whether it is you, one of your assistant coaches, or a parent, have your coach pitcher practice pitching using a consistent delivery and arc.

• With practice, 8U players can adjust to hitting a pitch thrown from the full 35 feet pitching distance. Avoid pitching from significantly closer in hopes of ‘timing’ the ball and bat running into each other.